Tiki Nights Times Two in Los Angeles

The summer solstice isn’t until June 21st, but thanks to the beautiful Los Angeles weather, it’s tiki season pretty much year-round in the City of Angels. La Descarga and The Spare Room are carrying the LA tiki torch in the months ahead by featuring a stellar lineup of guest bartenders throughout the Endless Summer. Time to do your liver stretches and stock up on the Aloha wear, friends.

Tiki Tuesdays at La Descarga

TIKI TUESDAY THROWDOWNLast summer, La Descarga head bartender Joe Swifka launched Tiki Tuesdays with a menu that mixed tiki classics and signature creations. To help set the Polynesian mood, the bar was decorated with tropical flowers and the house band played Hawaiian slack key and surf guitar tunes. This spring, Swifka is upping the ante by inviting some of LA’s top bartenders to join him behind the stick to get their tiki on. “It’s kind of a head-to-head jam,” said Swifka. “We’ll have the weekly Tiki Tuesday menu as well as the guest’s menu. The house menu is always available by request.”

It all starts on Tuesday, April 23rd with guest bartender Christopher Day (Cole’s Red Car Bar). Swifka said, “It’s his 30th birthday as well, so even more reason to come down and party!” The guest bartender series will function in a similar way to the R&D Bar at Harvard & Stone, but with a tiki influence. “Basically it’s an excuse to kick it with my bartender friends and also open up La Descarga to other bartenders around town,” said Swifka. “Who knows what kind of trouble we can get in…”

Nathan Oliver (Harvard & Stone) is the special guest on Tuesday, April 30th. Then it’s those Big Bar sons of anarchy, Eugene Lee and Dan Long, on May 7th. After L&L, Swifka is away for the rest of May for his wedding and honeymoon, and then the Tiki Tuesday Throwdowns start up again in June. Congrats, Joe!

AN EVENING OF TIKI
As she did last year, Beverage Director Naomi Schimek has gathered a killer list of guest bartenders for The Spare Room’s monthly series, An Evening of Tiki. The inaugural season of raucous tiki nights featured a mix of local stars and visiting dignitaries. The 2013 edition of An Evening of Tiki kicks off at 9pm on Wednesday, May 1st, with Smuggler’s Cove owner Martin Cate, sponsored by El Dorado Rum. Cate is featuring an homage to The Luau, the legendary Beverly Hills nightspot opened by Stephen Crane, aka the Tiki Host to the Stars.

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In June, Schimek welcomes Marcos Tello (Liquid Assets) and Chris Ojeda (Soho House), who will be “reliving their days spent at the Islands in Brea.” Then it’s consecutive events with New York in the house, featuring PDT’s Jim Meehan on July 3rd, and then Julie Reiner and Willy Shine on August 14th. The season’s grand finale is on September 4th, featuring Miami’s John Lermayer and a special guest.

An Evening of TikiIsland-Inspired Cocktails, Music & FoodBeginning May 1, 2013
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